The Leadership Excellence School at Holman Automotive Group, Inc., continues to be an essential part of the company’s success. Holman Automotive is committed to developing and promoting from within, and the programs in this school play an important role in preparing existing and potential leaders for promotion.
Program Details
The Potential Leader Program (PLP) is a springboard to first-level leadership. Originally available to ARI employees only, the program was so successful that in January 2016 it was expanded to include four other Holman operating companies. This is a nomination-based, six-month blended learning program, preparing high-potential individual contributors to make the transition into their first leadership role. The program focuses on the core competencies needed to produce results through others.
The Advancing Leader Program (ALP) prepares high-potential managers to move into higher-level positions throughout the Holman organization. This 12-month blended learning program utilizes instructor-led training (ILT), virtual instructor-led training (VILT), social learning through a dedicated Sharepoint site, 360-degree assessment with follow-up coaching, and Action Learning projects to build the skills, confidence, and knowledge needed to succeed at higher levels in the organization. Based on the positive results of the first cohort, Holman Automotive expanded the program to include high potentials from four Holman operating companies. The second cohort graduated in November 2016.
The ALP program has served as a platform for generating new and innovative ideas. Holman Automotive solicits capstone project topics from its senior leadership; these projects are assigned to cross-functional project teams with the ALP cohort. Recommendations from these capstone projects include an online employee social recognition and reward system that was implemented in late 2015.
Results
The Potential Leader Program consistently receives overall satisfaction levels of 4.8 out of 5. To date, 50 percent of program graduates have received promotions. Some 40 percent of the 2015 Advancing Leader Program graduates have been promoted.
